prior to his public service, the justice served in private practice in both san francisco and sacramento. i can attest to his prowess as an attorney because on one very interesting occasion, he represented me. [laughter] >> on a speeding ticket. [laughter] >> and got me off with a minimum fine. from 1965 to 1988, justice kennedy was a professor of constitutional law at the mcgeorge school of law, the university of the pacific located in sacramento. and a point of particular pride of mine is the fact that he provided valuable support to then governor ronald reagan on a number of legal issues as a volunteer lawyer. justice kennedy was appointed to the united states court of appeals for the ninth circuit in 1975 where he served for more than 12 years until president reagan nominated him as an associate justice of the u.s. supreme court. he took his current seat in 1988. in nominating justice kennedy to the supreme court in 1987, president reagan remarked that his career as a judge in the u.s. court of appeals for the ninth circuit, as a constitutional law professor, and in private practice